News
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, April 12, 2017
A3
Farm to School funding hangs in the balance
Program: Kids
eat, learn about
local food
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
Oregon’s Farm to School
and School Garden program,
which gives local students an
inside look at the area agri-
cultural industry and brings
local produce to school caf-
eterias, is competing with
other spending bills in the
Joint Committee on Ways and
Means.
Rep. Brian Clem champi-
oned House Bill 2038 to save
the Farm to School program
after it was removed from
Gov. Kate Brown’s proposed
2017-19 draft budget.
Clem is also moving to
expand grant funding for the
program from the current $4.5
million to $5.6 million for the
coming two-year budget cy-
cle.
There are 144 schools
districts receiving Farm to
School funds, which bring Or-
egon produce, meat, fish and
dairy products to students.
Students who eat breakfast
and lunch at Grant School
District No. 3 schools —
Grant Union Junior-Senior
High School in John Day,
Humbolt Elementary in Can-
yon City and Seneca School
— have been served local
food through the program.
Head cook Natalie Weaver
said the funding she receives
through the Farm to School
grant is determined by the
number of students and how
Contributed photo
Students participating in Humbolt Elementary’s Farm to School Academy enjoyed a field trip last fall to Thomas
Orchards in Kimberly.
many of them receive re-
duced-price or free meals.
“You can order anything
local, Oregon products or
products that are processed
here,” she said.
Some purchases she’s
made for the school have in-
cluded fruit from Kimberly
and lettuce from Bend.
The grant funding also
pays for the cut and wrap fees
for beef that is donated to the
school district.
“It is beneficial,” she said.
“We’re on a budget crunch, so
the extra funding helps.”
Some favorites for the stu-
dents are the pears and apples
grown in Kimberly.
“The kids absolutely love
it,” she said. “They devour
it faster than I can put it out
there.”
Another part of the pro-
gram involves teaching Ore-
gon kids how food gets from
the farm and ranch to the ta-
ble.
The Farm to School Acad-
emy, coordinated by Elise
Delgado of the South Fork
John Day Watershed Coun-
cil, receives funding through
a Farm to School competitive
grant.
Each month, Delgado and
volunteers teach 20-30 Hum-
bolt Elementary School fifth-
and sixth-graders hands-on
lessons, including field trips,
about where their food comes
from and the work involved
to produce it.
The group will travel to
Seneca April 21 to plant four
varieties of apple trees with
lessons from Julia Justice
whose family owns Better
Blooms and Gardens in Prai-
rie City.
The students visited
Thomas Orchards in Kim-
berly last fall to see how Jeff
The Road to
Resurrection
Heather Mosley,
left, and Carle
Wright present
the Passover
meal to attendees
of the Road to
Resurrection
Saturday during
the Spring
Roundup at the
Grant County
Fairgrounds,
hosted by 14
local churches.
Local churches host Spring Roundup
By Sean Hart
Blue Mountain Eagle
Local churches brought the
story of Jesus’ resurrection to
life Saturday.
Fourteen churches host-
ed the Spring Roundup last
week, featuring three nights
of religious concerts and wor-
ship as well as the Road to
Resurrection, where attend-
ees walked in the footsteps of
Jesus through the last week
of his life presented by lo-
cal volunteers clad in period
attire.
About 200 people attended
the evening musical perfor-
mances, said John Day Church
of the Nazarene Pastor and
one of the event’s organizers
Bob Douglas. About as many
experienced the story of Jesus’
triumphal entry and the Pass-
over meal to prison, the cross
and the Resurrection.
Torie Coalwell, 16, Heather
Mosley, 18, and Carle Wright,
16, presented the Passover
meal to the groups of attend-
ees as they made their way
through decorated path inside
Trowbridge Pavillion at the
Grant County Fairgrounds.
“It’s cool for the people to
be able to experience this,”
Wright said.
Mosley said she hoped peo-
ple would better understand
the meaning of the events after
experiencing them.
Coalwell said the Spring
Roundup was great for the
community by bringing differ-
ent churches together.
After making their own
cross necklaces at the end of
the Road to Resurrection, at-
tendees said it was a great ex-
perience.
John Day resident Alma
Joslin said it was a “blessing.”
Crish Hamilton of Mt. Ver-
non said it was a great way to
get to know the story.
“I loved to see the youth
involvement,” she said. “They
took it so seriously and did
well.”
Francis Kocis, an elder at
Redeemer Lutheran Church in
John Day, said the event was
well attended from the local
musicians kicking off the event
Thursday through Saturday’s
finale. He said it was great to
see so many come together.
“There’s been a lot of sup-
port,” he said.
A CADEMIC R EPORT
Prairie City third-quarter honor roll
Seniors
4.0 GPA: Caleb Madsen
and Lindsay Wall.
Honor roll (3.5-3.99):
Brogan McKrola, Sarah En-
nis and Devin Packard.
Honorable mention (3.0-
3.49): Taci Perrenoud, Wyatt
Williams, MaKenzie Jones,
and Nathan Maloy.
Adolfo Ceja, Deja Amsden
and Jonathan Lawrence.
Juniors
4.0 GPA: Dorran Wilson
and Brianna Zweygardt.
Honor roll (3.5-4.0): Jo-
siah Hoeffner, Megan Ca-
marena, Mariah McClung
and Cassie Hire.
Honorable mention (3.0-
3.49): Danner Davis and Ai-
tor Ansotegui.
Eighth grade
4.0 GPA: Aries Bice and
Declan Zweygardt.
Honor roll (3.5-3.99):
Caitlin Willet, Katie Hire
and Samantha Workman.
Honorable mention (3.0-
3.49): Jayden Winegar,
Camry Milesi and Kevin
Duvall.
Sophomores
Honor roll (3.5-3.99):
Haley Pfefferkorn.
Honorable mention (3.0-
3.49): Joseph Zellner, Ra-
ven Maloy, Lane Williams,
Gabriela Arias, Levi Burke,
Seventh grade
Honor roll (3.5-3.99):
Marcus Judd, Riley Reames
and Dylan Clark.
Honorable mention (3.0-
3.49): Austin McKrola and
Seth Moore.
Freshman
4.0 GPA: Shaelynn Bice.
Honor roll (3.5-3.99):
JoLynne Ashley, Jessica
Reames and Johna Long.
Honorable mention (3.0-
3.49): Aleah Johns.
Thomas and his family oper-
ate their business. Sixth-grad-
er Destiny Pelayo said she
enjoyed the field trip.
“My favorite part has
been being with friends and
learning so many things with
them in a fun way,” she said.
In an interview last week,
Delgado said the students
learn how food is produced
on the field trips. Their last
trip was a visit in February to
Stiner Ranch in Mt. Vernon.
“It gives context to the
information that is actually
applicable to student’s lives,”
she said. “They can see how
that applies to their world,
and they’re not just memo-
rizing (from a textbook). It
gives them the opportunity
to get out to the land and see
all that goes into it, not just
the land and how it’s being
worked and managed but the
culture and energy that has to
go into operations in Grant
County.”
She said natural resourc-
es are a foundation of local
communities.
“Here, not only do we eat
the food, but we drive by the
fields where food is being
produced, and our friends
come from natural resource
families, and it needs to be
understood by our students,”
she said. “The Farm to School
funding is allowing us to do
that in this community.”
Jeff Thomas traveled to
Salem in February for a hear-
ing on Farm to School fund-
ing.
Megan Kemple of Or-
egon Farm to School and
School Garden Network
said in a press release Thom-
as testified at the hearing
that selling to schools has
helped his family orchard
stay afloat, and how he val-
ues these programs both for
the sales and the education-
al components.
“He emphasized that
buying locally helps keep
money circulating in Ore-
gon communities, and said
that investing in farm to
school and school gardens is
‘one of the best ways you can
spend your dollar,’” she said.
Capital Bureau reporter
Mateusz Perkowski contribut-
ed to this report.
Eagle photos
Sean Hart
Spring Roundup attendees enjoy a meal after being led on
a walk through the story of the Resurrection Saturday as
part of the Spring Roundup organized by local churches.
Torie Coalwell, left, passes out a course of the Passover
meal to Road to Resurrection attendees at the Spring
Roundup Saturday in John Day.
Help is available
for victims of
sexual assault in
Grant County.
If you or someone you
know has been a victim of
sexual assault, please call:
Heart of Grant County
541-620-1342
Grant County Victim
Assistance Program
541-575-4026
Remember:
sex without
consent =
sexual assault
This project was supported by Grant No. 2015-WR-AX-0008
awarded by the Office on Violence Against Women, U.S.
Department of Justice. The opinions, findings, conclusions,
and recommendations expressed in this publication/
program/exhibition are those of the author(s) and do not
necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Justice,
Office on Violence Against Women.
Designed by the Blue Mountain Eagle
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